Pokemon X & Y: A Novelization
by Alwayssearching2012
Summary: Rated T because I'm paranoid. 10-year-old Serena, native of Kanto and daughter of famous Rhyhorn racer, Grace, has just moved to the faraway and unfamiliar land of Kalos. As she journeys through her adopted homeland with her newfound friends, the threat of Team Flare and old war still lingers on the horizon...
1. A Lap Around Kalos

**AN: **My first Warriors fanfic is not getting the reception I had hoped or expected, so I decided to try my hand at writing for Pokemon again. My stories were popular, though I never finished any of them. This one, though, I feel like I can actually commit to, since I don't have college for another 3 months. Also, I don't own Pokemon *disclaimer*

**CHAPTER 1  
**

Have you ever been woken up by a Flying type using its Peck attack very fiercely in your face?

Trust me. It's not an experience I care to repeat. Clearly, Mom and Rhyhorn caught a faulty Fletchling out past Aquacorde Town. I miss Kanto, specifically my hometown of Pewter City, more than I could ever describe. I'd had almost my entire life planned out - I was going to become an apprentice of Brock, the Rock-type Gym Leader there, eventually take over the gym, and once I retired, maybe follow in my mother's footsteps and become a Rhyhorn rider.

But no. My mother had grown tired of her career, and the recognition. She decided on a quiet life in the faraway, barely talked about Kalos Region - and I, since I was not yet old enough to be a Trainer at the time, had to move with her. Forgiveness for this experience is currently TBD. Oh well. Since I'm awake, I may as well get dressed and try and get to know my surroundings a bit better.

"Serena!" exclaimed my mother when I walked downstairs into the kitchen. "It's about time you got going! Why don't you step out and say hello to the neighbors?"

_How about you punish that pathetic excuse for a flying chicken over there for giving me a migraine instead? _I thought. But, not wanting to fight any more than we already had, I obliged.

I hadn't stepped three feet out of our quaint little residence before I was greeted by a small girl in a pink T shirt with black bows down the front, with a matching bag, jean shorts, and pink high top sandals. Clearly she liked pink - and bows. Her hair was quite something as well; at the top it was styled into two buns, but in the back, two long brown ponytails reached down toward her feet.

The other neighbor was a rather handsome boy - about my height with shaggy black hair, deep gray eyes, and dressed from head to toe in blue jeans, a blue windbreaker, a red hat and sunglasses. He offered me a confident smile, and I couldn't help but return it.

"Welcome to Vaniville Town," he offered. "The name's Calem. I live next door."

"And I'm Shauna!" piped up the pink-loving girl. "Great to meet you! Guess what? We've come to get you!"

"The renowned Professor Sycamore lives here in the Kalos region. I heard he has a task for five kids, including us. But I'm surprised he knows who you are. You did just move here to Vaniville, after all," Calem added, seeing my eyes begin to narrow at his tone.

Clearly oblivious to the tension, Shauna interjected, "We'll wait for you in the next town over! And y'know what? We're going to get...a Pokemon! Come on, let's go!" Quick as a flash, the two of them ran off.

_Why the hell couldn't we all just walk there together? _I thought. _This Shauna sure doesn't plan things out very thoroughly. Oh well. It's not like I had many friends back home, and now I have at least two._

Walking out of the gate that led to Route 1, I strolled along for maybe 5 minutes and reached Aquacorde Town, upon which I heard a shout of, "Hey, Serena! This way! Over here!"

I followed the sound to a small table in the middle of the town, which had Calem and Shauna sitting at it, as well as a larger boy with a black shirt with a Vanillite on it, and a smaller, nervous-looking boy with orange hair and glasses. I took the open seat next to Calem.

"We were just talking about you!" Shauna greeted me happily. "C'mon, have a seat!"

"This is the meeting place, Serena," Calem stated calmly. "Here, I'll introduce you. Everyone, this is Serena."

"Wow!" exclaimed the larger boy. "Shauna's description was spot-on!" My eye twitched. _What exactly did she say…_

"So, Serena," my handsome neighbor continued, "this is Tierno. He can really tear up the dance floor and...this is Trevor. He's a little shy, but he always gets perfect scores on his tests."

"All right! Nice to meetcha!" the bigger boy - _Tierno, _I reminded myself - exclaimed. "You know, it'd feel like we were a closer crew if we call each other by nicknames. Can I call you Lady S?"

I stared in utter disbelief at the horrible suggestion when Shauna made everything worse by adding, "No way! She's a Li'l S for sure! What do you think, Trevor?"

"What?! You want me to nickname someone I just met?! You shouldn't put people on the spot like this, Shauna!" the shy boy exclaimed for the first time. "Well...how about something low-key? Maybe...something like S-kins?"

Just as I was about to pray to Arceus to forever destroy these nickname suggestions, my voice of reason, Calem, reassured me, "You should decide what we call you."

Sighing with relief inwardly, I explained to my new "crew", as Tierno put it, "I've never really had a nickname besides Seesee. It's what my dad called me when I was very little." I had never told anyone that before. But despite Calem's seriousness, Trevor's shyness, Tierno's weirdness, and Shauna's general overenthusiasm for everything, I felt a sort of glow inside that I never had before. _Is this what friendship is like?_

"You want us to call you Seesee?" Shauna asked shyly. Clearly, she understood what the moment had meant as much as I had. I nodded, and really smiled for the first time since moving to Kalos.

"Okay! Seesee fits you perfectly! I'm sure we're gonna be great friends, so I'll call you that, too! Hey! Can we see the Pokémon now? I want to meet my new partner soon!" Shauna managed to exclaim all in one breath.

"I know, right? It was such a cool feeling when Trevs and I met our Pokemon. Hope you feel the same way we did!" Tierno replied, and pulled out a container with three Pokeballs inside. Releasing them all at once, I was greeted by some sort of tan otter wearing a green hat, a yellow fox with tufts of flaming red fur coming from its ears, and a very serious looking blue frog with what looked like a scarf of white bubbles.

Though they all looked like good partners, and definitely very different than back home in Kanto, the same warm glow I'd felt telling my new friends to call me Seesee seemed to be reflected in that little fox's smile. I picked it up and as it mewled affectionately in my arms, I knew I'd made the right choice.

"Would you like to give your Pokemon a nickname?" Shauna asked curiously.

"I think I will call her Victoria," I replied. My little fox - Fennekin, I think it was called - chirped happily in response.

"Okay! My partner's Chespin! Wow! We go together great! The two of us are just way-ay-ay too cute!" The green-hatted otter seemed to have the same cheerful personality as Shauna.

"Good to meet you, Froakie. My name's Calem. Because of you, I can finally become a real Pokemon Trainer. Thanks!" The blue frog gave a simple nod in response. I snorted. _Clearly, those two will make a great team. Wonder if Tierno's Pokemon likes to dance and Trevor's takes tests with him?_

"Uh, pardon me," Trevor interrupted awkwardly, "but I have something for you from the Professor as well. I have something that will help you understand Pokemon on a much deeper level." He handed me a shiny red device, which I stared at questioningly until he continued, "Um, so you see, the Pokedex I just gave you is a high tech device that automatically records the Pokemon you encounter! The reason you get one is because the professor wants us to go on a journey with our Pokemon and complete the Pokedex. To put it another way, it's an important mission from the Professor, I'm sure of it!"

I had to smile at that last part - it was the first time since I'd met Trevor that he sounded sure of himself about anything.

"Oh, lighten up, Trevs, you're way too serious sometimes," scoffed Tierno. "Um, Seesee, please take this with you too," he added. "It's a letter from the Professor. You should give it to your mom." As I placed it inside my bag in a secure pocket, he exclaimed, "All right! We're done with our errand for the professor. I guess Trevs and I will go look for Pokemon! Let's go, Trevs!" And with that, the two more experienced Trainers were off.

"In Kalos," Calem continued to explain, "kids are chosen to carry a Pokedex and go on an adventure. But you need to give that letter to your mom before you go." I rolled my eyes. _Like I didn't know certain kids are chosen for this? Surely Kalos has heard of Ash Ketchum._

I was nearly out of the Aquacorde gates when I heard Shauna call, "Serena, wait! You're going to be my opponent in my Pokemon-battling debut!"

"Okay, but you better be ready to lose!" I replied smugly, surprised at how fired up I felt to battle a friend. "Go, Victoria!" Releasing my Fennekin, I scanned it with the Pokedex and smirked as I saw Ember on its list of attacks.

"Victoria, use Ember a few times and give Chespin lights out!" That was exactly what happened, too - any Vine Whip attack Chespin attempted to leash out, Victoria could just burn away with Ember, and Growl barely affected her, as the flaming fur in her ears served as an insulation to sound attacks.

"Hey! I wasn't done watching my Li'l Chespin yet!" cried Shauna as her Pokemon fell, defeated. I shrugged. "Sorry, but you will be spending the rest of your lives together, at least."

Shauna brightened at that thought, and replied, "You're amazing, Seesee! Here, let me fix up your Pokemon." Taking Victoria, she sprayed her with a Potion and handed her back to me. I returned Victoria to her ball and continued on the way back to Vaniville Town. I would start out tomorrow morning. "Say hi to your mom for me!" Shauna called, waving from a distance.

"So, what did you and the neighbor kids end up doing?" asked my mom as I walked in the house. I grinned in response, and released my new partner. "You got your very own Pokemon? Lucky you! How about that? You're a Pokemon Trainer now, too. Congratulations!" I smiled in response, and handed over the letter.

Scrunching up her face in confusion, my mom peered at the paper. "Huh? A letter for me? It says it's from somebody named Sycamore. What could it be? A love letter?"

She said this offhandedly, but it still pained me to the core to hear it. It had been almost seven years since Dad passed, and it seemed the only one who still felt the pain was me.

"Wow, what lovely handwriting…" she mused, scanning the page. I snorted. _And this is why I don't have a stepfather. _

"Hmm? What do we have here? A request...oh, I see! Serena! We've barely unpacked, and all kinds of exciting things are happening! Okay, let's get you and Fennekin ready for your journey!"

Getting me ready for my journey apparently consisted of giving me a Town Map and a change of clothes, then sending me out the door. I guess my plan to leave tomorrow wouldn't work. Oh well - the truth was, I loved my mother and I appreciated her taking care of me for so long, but I was never going to sit at home with her and help take care of the house. Not anymore.

Little did I know the experiences I would have and how drastically my life would change, that sunny day that Victoria and I started out on our "lap around Kalos".


	2. Catching Water

**AN: **The dialogue of the first chapter I wrote pretty much word for word, but even though this is based on the games, it wouldn't be fanfiction if it were identical, right? So from here on out, it'll be mostly original, but will of course stay true to X &amp; Y :) also, I am not Satoshi Tajiri.

**CHAPTER 2**

By the time I reached the route above Aquacorde Town, Shauna and Calem were eagerly awaiting me. Or, at least, Shauna was eager. Calem just kind of stood there with this adorable, faraway half-smile on his face.

"Oh, hi, Seesee! Come learn how to catch Pokémon with me! Calem's mom and dad are amazing Trainers! That's why he knows so much about catching Pokémon and battling."

"You can talk about my parents if you want, but it doesn't have anything to do with me," Calem replied casually, spinning a Pokeball around his finger like an old pro. "I'm going to catch one now, so watch carefully!"

_Seriously? How hard can this process possibly be? _I thought. _Isn't it just battle, throw the ball, rinse, and repeat? _Nevertheless, I released Victoria to observe.

As it turned out, that's exactly what it was, as Calem used his Fletching (which, may I point out, looked much less psychotic than Mom's) to battle and then catch a fairly weak looking rabbit Pokemon - Bunnelby, the Pokedex informed me.

"Wow!" Shauna exclaimed in amazement after the fascinating process was over. "The Pokemon went INSIDE the Pokeball?"

Victoria gave me a look that clearly suggested Shauna was not cut out to even leave her house, let alone train Pokemon. Meanwhile, I was now reconsidering my friendship with everyone entirely, and it looked like Calem was three steps away from doing the same. "Seriously, Shauna? Isn't your Chespin in a Pokeball? You forgot _already?_ Anyway, I'll share some Pokeballs with you both." I thanked Calem gratefully as he gave me 10 Pokeballs to start out my journey of catching and befriending more Pokemon, as I had Victoria.

"The Pokemon around here are pretty weak," he continued, "so if you throw a ball at any of them, you'll probably capture them. It'll also help your Pokemon gain experience. Be seeing you, then," he added jauntily, and strolled into the Santalune Forest ahead of us.

I frowned at his tone. _Aren't we all supposed to be traveling together? Clearly, both of us are the ones with the common sense and social skills, so why am I with _her _right now?_

Not to be undone, I followed him straight inside after having my first Pokemon battle with a real trainer - I beat his Fletchling and Bunnelby combo handily. Unfortunately for me, Shauna appeared not a minute later.

"Wait up! Let's walk together, I feel like something exciting will happen if I stay by you! I'll heal your Pokemon whenever you need, as well." I groaned inwardly. _The reason everyone else seems to be able to tolerate Shauna is by not acknowledging most things she says, so I suppose I'll have to try that. _

And so it went, for a couple hours. I gave her a bit of the backstory on Rhyhorn racing, and we discussed what the Professor might be like, as well as the myriad of Pokemon species in the forest. Shauna really wanted to catch a Pikachu, but they were particularly rare, and seeing as there were many trainers around, I doubted we'd see one at all. However, I was wrong.

"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave and slow that Weedle down!" At the sound of Trevor's voice, Shauna and I rushed out of the bush we had just been searching through to see him and the always rhythmic Tierno. Trevor had his Pokedex out and was scanning the little bug for data.

"You caught a Pikachu, Trevs?" exclaimed Shauna in delight.

"Not exactly," Trevor replied modestly. "This was the first Pokemon I received from Professor Sycamore. He was waiting for the Vaniville Town kids - you two and Calem - to give out his starter Pokemon, so he caught this one for me."

Tierno followed suit and released an ornery-looking orange lobster. "This is my Corphish! The Professor caught him especially for me, because he knows Swords Dance. He's going to be the captain of my ultimate dance team!"

I couldn't help but giggle as I saw the two of them move from side to side together as he spoke. Tierno could be a little dorky, but he had a dream and it was clear that eventually he would achieve it. In a way, I admired him.

"Well now I can't catch a Pikachu," lamented Shauna. "I'd be copying a friend. Oh well, I can just admire his - in battle!"

It wasn't long before we reached the exit. Calem appeared behind us as we stood around, talking, laughing, and sharing Pokedex entries, which was a suggestion of Trevs'. If we were to complete the Pokedex for the Professor, we should all pool our information - a logical way to think.

"So, you got here first," Calem said. Though his face smiled at the group, his eyes were focused directly on me. "Seems like I'm neighbors with someone who has a lot of potential."

I shivered at his gaze. Calem was more than a little cute, and clearly quite intelligent, but his competitive nature could be at times off-putting. I wasn't sure why I was in this Pokemon journey yet - did he have to make it so intense?

"We're all here!" Shauna announced cheerfully. "Let's all go to Santalune City!" Following her out, I noticed that despite her _many _personal shortcomings, Shauna did seem to genuinely care about every one of us, and it was very important to her to keep us together. Maybe that was her goal, to make memories with her friends while growing as a trainer. Once again, my face flared with frustrated warmth. _What will my goal be?_

Shauna's high-pitched, lilting voice brought me out of my reverie as she asked the very question I'd been dreading. "What are you all going to do?"

"I'm going to create the ultimate dance team!" Tierno declared for the millionth time. But then he added, "Different Pokemon use different moves, and I'm really interested to see how that works." _You basically just answered your own question. Like, hello?_

"I'm going to complete the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore," Trevor replied, shyly but firmly. "Different Pokemon live in different areas, so there will be different ones to scan and catch here."

"What are you gonna do, Calem?" Shauna asked cheerfully.

"I'm going to go to Santalune City's Gym and take on the Gym Leader. So you know, Pokémon Trainers test their strength by battling with the Gym Leaders in each Pokémon Gym." I raised an eyebrow in interest. _Even though Calem is the _real _competitive one here, I don't want to lose to any trainers in the future, and Victoria would probably enjoy getting stronger as well. That's _it! _I'll take the Gym challenge, too._

"Wow! You sure know a lot!" Shauna exclaimed.

"I learned a lot from others," Calem replied humbly. "I hope you'll all feel free to ask if you ever need advice on something related to Pokemon training. Anyway, I'm off to train for my Gym battle, so I'm sure I'll see you all soon." He took off running towards the town over the hill, his jacket flapping in the wind. It was all I could do to tear my eyes away and back to the lovably irritating Shauna.

"I'm going to spend some time getting to know my Li'l Chespin! What are you going to do, Seesee?"

"I'm going to take the Gym challenge, like Calem," I replied confidently. "I want to make sure I bond with Victoria and my other Pokemon while I get stronger, and challenging tough trainers is the best way to do that."

"That's a really cool goal!" exclaimed Shauna, and Tierno and Trevor nodded in agreement. We dispersed not long afterwards, and I was left sitting by the water with Victoria, relaxing. Although a Fire type, she enjoyed practicing her Ember attack on the flowers around us occasionally.

"Skreeee!" I heard her screech, landing at my feet in a crumpled wet heap. I sat bolt upright and turned around to see a smug looking blue mouse with a white belly and a long tail with a ball at the end. The Pokedex identified it as a Marill, a Water and Fairy type.

"Victoria, you make this little prankster pay for hurting you. Scratch!" Baring her teeth in rage, my fierce little fox lunged at the Marill and raked her claws across its stomach. Wailing in pain, the Marill retaliated with a Water Gun attack. Dripping wet and exhausted after two super effective attacks, Victoria nevertheless growled at the Marill proudly, refusing to give up.

I couldn't help but pity the sight of my poor, hurt starter, though. Picking her up, I cradled her in my arms soothingly. Victoria hissed angrily and I winced as she badly scratched my arms trying to go back to the battle, but held firm. "No," I whispered. "You're hurt. This battle is over. I'm going to take you to the Pokemon Center in Santalune City and get you healed."

Those words were all it took. Though her fierce look never wavered, especially in her foe's direction, I felt her body relax beneath me and the fire that constantly burned beneath her skin mellowed. I began the trek over the hill when I felt a blast of water hit me in the back of the head. I turned around angrily to see the Marill following us, and was just about to send poor old Victoria back to teach it a lesson once and for all when I noticed the tears in its eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sorry for hurting my friend?" The little blue mouse nodded slowly, looking at the ground in shame. "Apologize to _her!"_ I snarled, protective instincts suddenly taking over. My mind flashed back to a time in which a Venonat that lived in the Viridian Forest wandered too close to Rhyhorn and injured it badly with a Psybeam attack. My mother borrowed a neighbor's Fire type in order to take revenge. Now I understood exactly why she had been so enraged.

The Marill gestured frantically towards Victoria, so I gingerly put her on the ground and knelt next to them. She immediately growled at the sight of her aggressor, but her anger faded as she saw the state he was in. After a couple minutes of conversing, my Fennekin grabbed one of the Pokeballs Calem had given me earlier in her teeth, and jerked her head towards Marill.

I gaped. "He wants to come with us?" Marill nodded shyly, eyes fixed firmly on the ground. "I see," I whispered. "You liked the way I took care of Victoria, didn't you?" He nodded. "You want friends like that for yourself." At this, he brightened, seeing I understood, and shook his entire body vigorously in excitement. _Too bad Tierno didn't come upon this one first, _I thought in amusement. "Then welcome to our family...Snowdrop." The Marill flashed his first huge smile as I bestowed his nickname, and obediently let himself be captured by the Pokeball. _My first day out training, and I already made a new friend. Well done - even if I didn't capture it quite the way Calem taught us to._

That night in the Pokemon Center, I gave Snowdrop and Victoria the top bunk, then promptly collapsed on my bed without taking my clothes off and fell asleep.


	3. Battle for the Bug Badge

**AN: **So sorry it's been so damn long since I updated. This has been a really difficult year in college, both emotionally and academically, but since it's summer and I'm getting back into the games again, I'll try to update once every week or two :) also, I do not own Pokemon.

**CHAPTER 3**

I woke up to a Water Gun attack to the face. Apparently this is just how my life was supposed to be - attacked by various small monsters to wake me up every day. I glared at the top bunk as Snowdrop grinned down at me and Victoria giggled into her paws. Clearly, however bad their relationship had started out, it was improving rapidly. Which sucked for me.

"That's enough, now," I grumbled, albeit affectionately. "We're going to go get breakfast, and then we're going to train to battle the Santalune Gym within the week, I hope." Victoria squealed in delight while Snowdrop just cocked his head at me in confusion. After a few quick words in his ear from Victoria, he looked equally enthusiastic and even jumped up and down.

Later that day, though, I began to wonder if we would ever be ready to battle the Gym Leader as my poor Marill had taken yet another hard Tackle from a wild Litleo, and Victoria looked ready to collapse after a hard won victory with another trainer's Riolu. _Of course we will, _I reassured myself. _Besides, if you win these badges, maybe Calem will stop acting so smug at times. _I couldn't help the feeling, though, that even though I had decided the purpose of my journey was to take the Gym challenge, I was still feeling uncertain as to why I was doing it…

3 Days Later

"All right, team. Let's do this!" I grinned at my two little warriors, each of whom were trying their best to stare back at me in a dignified manner, rather than acting excited. It wasn't working - the corners of Snowdrop's mouth kept twitching and Victoria's eyes sparkled with excitement and a hunger for battle.

"I know. I can't wait, either. Come back in your Pokeballs for now." I recalled them both and skated across town to the entrance to the Santalune Gym. (During one of our training sessions, a girl had offered me a pair of roller skates if I beat her Zigzagoon in a battle. Snowdrop had not only learned Rollout in the process, but defeated her soundly.)

Throwing the doors open, I discovered the layout of the gym was a giant spider web. _Bug types...Snowdrop's Fairy type will resist those, and they'll be weak against Victoria's Ember attack. Lucky break for my first important battle. _After battling a couple of small boys and their various Ledyba and Spewpa, I found myself facing a young woman holding a camera on the main platform in the middle.

Immediately, this woman snapped a picture of me, flash and everything. As I rubbed my eyes trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, she exclaimed, "Oh! You're a challenger! This will be fantastic, just fantastic!"

"Um...yeah…" I replied. Shaking off the last of my shock from the flash, I exclaimed, "I'm Serena of Vaniville Town, and I'm here to win my first badge!" I had decided that I should always introduce myself as if losing was not an option.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed. "I'm Viola, and I'll give you the Bug Badge if you knock all of my Pokemon out. I will not switch Pokemon, but you are allowed to at any time. 2-on-2 battle sound good? Oh, this is just fantastic - I just got a new roll of film that I can use now!"

_This woman needs a thesaurus_, I thought. _If I hear the word "fantastic" one more time…_

"I only have 2 Pokemon, so yes, 2-on-2 is fine. I'll start off with my ace in the hole, Victoria!" Releasing my Fennekin onto the battlefield, she entered and squealed in delight to make her gym debut.

"Surskit, go!" Viola released a blue bug with four long, skinny legs attached to a small round body. "You have the first move, challenger."

"Victoria, start out strong with an Ember attack!"

"Surskit, counter with Water Sport. It'll make it easier on your teammate, too." The small blue bug barely flinched at the fireball coming towards it; in fact, she only sprayed a few spurts of water from her mouth that filled the battlefield with a sort of cool steam. By the time the Ember attack hit Surskit, it barely did any damage. "Now counter with Bubble."

I winced. Clearly, I should have accounted for the fact that Viola would have counters for the type that is Bug's biggest enemy. "Victoria, dodge, but get in close and Scratch at it as best you can."

"Big mistake, Serena. Keep using Bubble!" I knew it was a gamble, but I also knew Victoria could take a beating if need be.

"Balance on top of Surskit's body, Victoria!" Viola's face contorted in confusion, and then a grim understanding as the weight of my Fennekin's little body was too much for it to bear. "Now Scratch, Scratch, Scratch and whatever you do, do _not _let that little bug get up again!"

"Keep fighting with those Bubbles, Surskit!" Viola cried, and her Pokemon heard her call - it wasn't long before both my Fennekin and her opponent were knocked out.

"Thanks, girly, you battled like a true champ," I whispered as I recalled Victoria, kissing her Pokeball and returning it to my belt.

"Surskit, you made this gym proud," Viola stated as she also recalled her Pokemon. "Vivillon, I'm counting on you to take it home!" She released a large pink butterfly to be my next opponent. _Ugh, maybe I should have just let Snowdrop battle Surskit...WAIT…_

"Snowdrop, it's your turn!" I called my Marill forth, and he appeared with bared teeth and a fierce look in his eyes, which was honestly hilarious considering his appearance.

"Vivillon, start out with an Infestation!" _What is that attack? _I thought. Roots appeared from the ground and began to tie Snowdrop down, appearing to suck him further into the earth. He squealed in mild annoyance more than pain, struggling and failing to get free.

Mind racing, I commanded, "Snowdrop, you can beat this, don't get rattled. Curl up in a ball as tight as you can and start rolling to get out of the infestation!" Snowdrop calmed down and obeyed, quickly picking up speed in his spherical shape. Viola, unfazed, told Vivillon to fly in close for a Tackle attack. I smirked. _Just what I was hoping for._

"That's enough speed, Snowdrop. Rollout. And make it a good few hits." Viola's eyes grew wide as she realized her mistake. "Vivillon, fly up and Harden as best you can!" But it was no avail; Snowdrop took off at what looked like sonic speed and within two hits, the butterfly Pokemon was unconscious on the ground. Snowdrop unrolled himself and quickly started bouncing around and singing in celebration of his victory.

"Yeah, yeah, you did good. Both you and Victoria. We'll celebrate later, bud," I added affectionately. Before I could even recall him, Viola had snapped two more photos of Snowdrop's dancing and my annoyed face at her flash.

"What a fantastic battle!" she exclaimed. "I learned so much from the way you and your Pokemon fought. Please, take this Bug Badge." _Highly original name. And for the love of Arceus, stop saying fantastic! _I smiled, however, in thanks as I took the badge and even for the picture she took of me afterwards.

"I hope you carry great memories of this battle with you. I will always have these fantastic photos to look at and remember you, and for that I am grateful," Viola finished.

"Thank you for being a great opponent," I returned, and left to head south to the Pokemon Center. After all, my Pokemon (Victoria in particular) needed to be healed for more traveling tomorrow.

For the first time since coming to Kalos, I fell asleep smiling.


End file.
